Hello everyone!
This week has been a fascinating week for me as an individual as well as in the mission overall. The mission is getting ready to swap out mission presidents this next week, but we also had a transfer of missionaries coming in and out. The last of the generation of "Slovacek" missionaries left with that group, including three assistants to the president, all of them having served as mission leadership at some point. It was really bizarre, because these missionaries were the ones I looked up to the most when I was a younger missionary, and now I'm crossing into the same places that they were at when I was their age in the mission. They've grown and changed a lot, and you can see it in their faces and their testimonies. Missions are beautiful things.
The new missionaries are very excited and even placed three copies of the book of mormon on their flight to the country. They're very excited about the work and we've done a lot of extra hard work to make sure they were assigned to serve with just the right companions in just the right circumstances. Kind of odd to think that I've been out here for that long but, when I look out the window at the 19th century stucko architecture and statues and gardens and the view down on the old town square with all the ancient churches and temples with the castle and palace just up the street, I say to myself, "odd? Why, this is home!" And it is! I love it here so much, I love the people with all their crusty, hardened exteriors and their wonderful hearts when you get down to it, I love the cobblestones and the communist panelak apartments. It's just wonderful here.
We took the new missionaries from the airport into the mission home and then, after some brief training, dragged them around the city to a lot of neat places to try and wear them out so they'd sleep through the night. They went out contacting for an hour, which was exciting, and we took them to dinner to try out some new czech foods. After signing over their lives to us and giving us their passports and visas, we were set to go to the foreign police to battle it out for their visa registration. By "battle" I mean we walked in the back door instead of the front where a line of foreigners is fighting to get service with the clerks, took the air conditioned elevator to the third floor, and sat down with the clerk to hammer out a few details. Not too bad. The service entrance didn't always exist, but it does now, and it's a favorite for missionaries to get through to the foreign police quicker than others.
The departing missionary testimony meeting was definitely a highlight of my mission, and I'm grateful I get to see at least another two of them while I'm here. I'm also excited for the switch in mission presidents this week. President Slovacek is one of my greatest role models. If I can measure up to a fraction of what he is, I'll be in pretty good shape. He'll be sorely missed by everyone, but President Irwin is going to bring a marvelous perspective to the work and the attitude and leadership we will need to take the mission to the next level, from doubling baptisms to establishing the next european stake. Yep, it's going to be HERE and we're excited for it (I say that completely unofficially of course, perhaps as more of a challenge and to say "Yes, we're going to earn the blessing of a stake in this country, and it will be here soon!")
I'm doing well. I've learned a lot about the importance of leadership and delegation and correlation this last week, things that I'm going to be applying for probably the rest of my life. I've got a few books I'd like to read to deepen my understanding of a few subjects regarding leadership and councils and so forth, but the organization I see here in the mission home is fantastic, and what's even cooler, it's the spirit that maintains the correlation between us as an office and the rest of the mission. We put out newsletters and calls and text messages and emails and so forth, but the spirit unifies the missionary work in a way that is imperceptible unless you see it yourself. I do have to say that I'm glad for the coordination and leadership and opportunities to serve and direct missionaries here, because it means we also have delegation of tasks. Since I'm not the computer specialist here, I can support and advise him, but I don't have to do the kind of stuff I'm "used to" in office situations and can instead focus on leading the missionaries and motivating and inspiring them. I just hope I can do it the way the Lord wants it done.
Well, I've got to go, but I'm grateful for your prayers and support and your emails and letters and pictures and everything. I love you all, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Elder Brent Anderson
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Another week in the office ( Week 2 in Prague, Week 62 in Czech )
Hey Everyone!
So, this week was really interesting. I've fully taken over responsibilities for the office, and then some since the executive and financial secretaries were out of town for a week. Here is a list of highlights:
Some bills came back from the bank as unpaid for unknown reasons but had to be paid before friday. So, we had to learn really quickly the czech vocabulary for electronic transfers, discussing electric and phone bills, and how to read invoices in czech.
We're up to date now on all our visa work and legal forms, so in my spare time I'm developing a bar code inventory system for the literally tens of thousands of items we have in stock for the whole mission. Pamphlets, books, manuals, everything in czech, slovak, english, mongolian, german, and anything else. It's a huge project, and I'm surprised no one has made a barcode system for all this before. But, we're getting there.
We've found a bunch of new people from old records and from on the streets, including a neat Ukrainian man named Petr who's really humble. Prague is very international, so you run into people from just about every country you can think of (So far, I count about 13 different nations, but it might be more).
The basement flooded yesterday morning due to raining. It is an interesting sight seeing a group of men wearing suits and ties sloshing around in water with mops and pushbrooms. Another fun czech learning experience since I had to work with the building coordinator and the city in order to get the problem diagnosed and fixed (I'm wondering if I'm starting to become the designated translator here...)
I've started translating my patriarchal blessing into czech.
We're baptizing an HP executive tomorrow afternoon, and we're working with a judge from Prague on her baptism too.
PJ still wants to go on a mission, but Pavel was hit really hard from every direction and floundered in his faith. It's really sad to see, since he read the whole book of mormon in a month, but it turns out his testimony had no basis in prayer and that, because he didn't put prayer and his heart into his belief, when it came time to make that next step he wasn't able to commit to it and fell apart. He's in the Lord's hands now, but I'm confident that he will come back soon when he sees the stark difference in his life with and without the influence of the Holy Ghost.
I've got to head out, but this week will be crazy, and the week after that we'll be having a switch in mission presidents. So much to do!
Love you all, have fun with summer vacation, and don't forget to read the book of mormon every day!
Brent
So, this week was really interesting. I've fully taken over responsibilities for the office, and then some since the executive and financial secretaries were out of town for a week. Here is a list of highlights:
Some bills came back from the bank as unpaid for unknown reasons but had to be paid before friday. So, we had to learn really quickly the czech vocabulary for electronic transfers, discussing electric and phone bills, and how to read invoices in czech.
We're up to date now on all our visa work and legal forms, so in my spare time I'm developing a bar code inventory system for the literally tens of thousands of items we have in stock for the whole mission. Pamphlets, books, manuals, everything in czech, slovak, english, mongolian, german, and anything else. It's a huge project, and I'm surprised no one has made a barcode system for all this before. But, we're getting there.
We've found a bunch of new people from old records and from on the streets, including a neat Ukrainian man named Petr who's really humble. Prague is very international, so you run into people from just about every country you can think of (So far, I count about 13 different nations, but it might be more).
The basement flooded yesterday morning due to raining. It is an interesting sight seeing a group of men wearing suits and ties sloshing around in water with mops and pushbrooms. Another fun czech learning experience since I had to work with the building coordinator and the city in order to get the problem diagnosed and fixed (I'm wondering if I'm starting to become the designated translator here...)
I've started translating my patriarchal blessing into czech.
We're baptizing an HP executive tomorrow afternoon, and we're working with a judge from Prague on her baptism too.
PJ still wants to go on a mission, but Pavel was hit really hard from every direction and floundered in his faith. It's really sad to see, since he read the whole book of mormon in a month, but it turns out his testimony had no basis in prayer and that, because he didn't put prayer and his heart into his belief, when it came time to make that next step he wasn't able to commit to it and fell apart. He's in the Lord's hands now, but I'm confident that he will come back soon when he sees the stark difference in his life with and without the influence of the Holy Ghost.
I've got to head out, but this week will be crazy, and the week after that we'll be having a switch in mission presidents. So much to do!
Love you all, have fun with summer vacation, and don't forget to read the book of mormon every day!
Brent
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Surprise from Prague ( Week 1 in Prague, Week 61 in Czech )
"Good morning Olomouc, it's 6:30 in the morning! Looking like an absolutely fantastic day today, like it always is here in Moravia! Weather forecast..." *WHACK!*
Elder Anderson smacked the phone and switched off the alarm, a recording of himself giving the same weather and traffic report as usual. He and his companion, Elder McGowan, enjoyed listening to it each morning for a few seconds before getting to work. It was a Monday, and Elder Anderson was looking ahead to a few relaxing preparation day activities. But, first things first. He grabbed his attentive-prayer alarm and got on his knees. Only two snooze buttons this time! He was pretty proud of himself and went to go make some pancakes and apple topping in the kitchen. A shower, a shopping trip, and a clean up in the bathroom/kitchen area (so much cleaning, in fact, that it somehow took the skin off his knuckles without him realizing it), and the two Elders were out the door for a day on the town. Little did they realize that their cell phone had been left in the bathroom. Normally Mondays were cellularly quiet, but this Monday was going to be a little different.
They headed into town and first went emailing. Elder Anderson was in the habit now of printing most of his emails since it cost 1 crown per page, and when he tweaked the printer settings just a bit he could run off everything for about 5 crowns total. They updated their spreadsheets, wrote to President Slováček, and told their families of the marvelous things they'd been seeing in Olomouc. Shortly thereafter Elder McGowan started getting antsy to go buy an Olomouc soccer team jersey. They were on sale from last season, and he really loves his jerseys, so the two started trekking across town to find the stadium and the fan shop, which they did. It was small, but very modern, and they both were interested in a few odds and ends. "I'm usually not this 'trunky' in buying stuff or in taking pictures. What's different about today?" thought Elder Anderson to himself quietly (It turns out, he usually thinks quietly, unless he's confused or thinking really hard, and then a slow grinding and squeaking noise is heard from somewhere behind his eardrums). Even so, he brushed the quiet thought aside and left the fan shop with a Czech national scarf in his backpack. He was very pleased with it, since it wasn't associated with anyone in particular, so it was wearable at any Czech sporting event or gathering without adaptation.
The elders had it on their plans to go to the building and write some letters. So, they trekked back across the city to the square and into the building. By this time it was about 3:30, and the elders got to work on writing letters, journal entries, and resting up for another week of miracle making. Soon after the other two elders joined them along with a friend/investigator who stopped by to chat.
Elder Anderson was working in the branch office on the home teaching plans and some welfare projects when he heard a funny ringtone in the other room. "That's funny, I think that the other elder's phone is going off, and that ringtone is the one they use for president!" It wasn't quite as cool as the ringtone on his own phone for president or the assistants, but it was nonetheless a ringtone that gets you wondering, "why is the office calling us today?"
Elder Anderson quietly lolled in his chair and he listened to the conversation through the thin office wall. "Hello president! Yeah, we're having a pretty good day...yeah, we've been with Elders Anderson and McGowan all day...uh huh, yeah we haven't heard anything....yep, he should be getting baptized pretty soon, we're really excited...."
Elder Anderson couldn't keep his curiosity down, so he curtailed his lolling activities and walked into the chapel to listen.
"...we're confident he'll be ready for his baptism by then....uh huh....yeah, he just walked in, do you want to talk to him? Yep, here he is!"
Now, Elder McGowan had been laughing the whole time from his chair in the corner. He knew what this call would be about, and Elder Anderson was still in absolute denial. He grabbed the phone and got to work.
"Good afternoon president, how are you doing?"
"Why, I'm doing really well, Elder. I've been trying to call you all day, did something happen to the phone?"
"Oh no, did something happen to the phone?" thought Elder Anderson to himself, this time not so quietly.
"Well, I'm not sure, however I think it was left in the bathroom when we were cleaning..." (Oh, of all the days to leave the phone at home...)
"Ahh, I see. It's kind of hard to reach you that way, you know. How are things in Olomouc?" (Things are going well...? What is this call about?
"Well, Pavel is still going strong, Sister Bundilová prayed for the first time in church yesterday, and PJ says he wants to be a missionary, so I'd say they're going really well."
"Wow, that's marvelous elder! You've been doing some great work out there in Olomouc, but I'd like to talk with you about a bit of a change we're making. We've thought about it, and I'd like to call you to be one of my assistants out here in Prague. An opening has come up due to some missionaries leaving for school early, and so you'll be getting up to speed and indoctrinated now instead of in two weeks over transfers. Are you up to it?"
Elder Anderson started laughing at himself. Elder McGowan had recently been teasing him a lot about going to the office, even during contacts. Elder Anderson appreciated it just fine, and he thought it was funny and, to some extent, even a compliment. Even still, whenever anyone mentioned him going to the office, he'd slap his companion's hand, just to avoid discussion on the topic.
But two weeks before transfers? That was ridiculous to consider! Such a thought had never crossed his mind once! Not to mention packing, saying goodbye, arranging for a threesome in Olomouc, trains, a new learning curve, a soon to be mission president swap, visas, paperwork, legal forms, foreign police, insurance....
"Yeah, that sounds great president! When do we start?"
"You'd need to pack your bags and get here as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to working with you, and we'll be seeing you soon. Bye!" *click*
Elder Anderson started laughing hysterically. It figures that he went souvenir shopping and took several pictures that day, the day of all days to be leaving. They stuck to their schedule as usual that night, but Elder Anderson started texting and calling people as soon as he could to make arrangements to say goodbye or to at least inform them that he was leaving. Then, it was back home, bags packed, and alarm set for 4 AM to grab the bullet train to Prague. On the train (which, sadly, wasn't a bullet train - the guy in front of him kifed the last reservation, so the trip was a little longer than 200 km/h) he read scriptures and thought about all the good that had been done in Olomouc so far. He had been greatly blessed by the Lord and was grateful for all the things he'd seen, between ups and downs, blessings and lack of faith, however the prevailing force of faith was easily seen in Olomouc thanks to the members, those preparing for baptism, and the Lord.
Tuesday at 8:50 AM the train pulled in to Praha Hlavní Nádraži and he was met by Elder Hatch and Elder Doxey. They left for the mission home, arrived in a few minutes, and got to work on training Elder Anderson in all the secrets of office missionary work. Papers to sign, forms to fill out, and policies to establish. They started working on the new transfer assignments, started teaching and finding new investigators immediately, and they even found time to get a transportation pass and then wake up early to go see the sunrise over Charles' Bridge on the Vltava on Saturday morning.
All in all, while a surprising change, Elder Anderson was happy with it. There were many opportunities as well as challenges that were now open to him, and to make things even better, he was grateful for the opportunity to become a more effective leader and to see a slightly bigger perspective on how to be a successful missionary. It does go without saying that working in the office would be a foreign experience for him as a missionary, since his normal proselyting or ministering time was reduced and his administering time (doing not-so-missionary-but-still-really-necessary stuff) was way high. All in all, however, he and his member friends from Prague were very stoked about the change.
A few details/housekeeping items that occurred to Elder Anderson while emailing:
1- P-Day is now on Saturday for me, I don't check email any other day of the week
2- My new address is the mission home. If things have been sent to Olomouc, I'll get it soon enough, but the mission home address in Prague is my personal address now.
3- I live in the most beautiful city on earth, and when we went up to the rooftop view yesterday it was stunning to see medieval bridges, cathedrals, castles, buildings, and right up on the hill Prague Castle fully lit up.
4- My exercise and diet are a lot different now, since I get to walk a lot more than I did in Olomouc (go figure) but we don't get to cook quite as much. Hopefully we'll compromise somehow and I'll see about making some fresh stuff like I used to. Then again, there is a mini-mart right next door with real fresh food and not stuff we have to carefully preserve in a tiny fridge. Fresh green bananas here I come!
Love you all, happy to be here, and I look forward to hearing from you for the next chapter of the Adventures of Elder Anderson in Prague!
Elder Brent Anderson
Elder Anderson smacked the phone and switched off the alarm, a recording of himself giving the same weather and traffic report as usual. He and his companion, Elder McGowan, enjoyed listening to it each morning for a few seconds before getting to work. It was a Monday, and Elder Anderson was looking ahead to a few relaxing preparation day activities. But, first things first. He grabbed his attentive-prayer alarm and got on his knees. Only two snooze buttons this time! He was pretty proud of himself and went to go make some pancakes and apple topping in the kitchen. A shower, a shopping trip, and a clean up in the bathroom/kitchen area (so much cleaning, in fact, that it somehow took the skin off his knuckles without him realizing it), and the two Elders were out the door for a day on the town. Little did they realize that their cell phone had been left in the bathroom. Normally Mondays were cellularly quiet, but this Monday was going to be a little different.
They headed into town and first went emailing. Elder Anderson was in the habit now of printing most of his emails since it cost 1 crown per page, and when he tweaked the printer settings just a bit he could run off everything for about 5 crowns total. They updated their spreadsheets, wrote to President Slováček, and told their families of the marvelous things they'd been seeing in Olomouc. Shortly thereafter Elder McGowan started getting antsy to go buy an Olomouc soccer team jersey. They were on sale from last season, and he really loves his jerseys, so the two started trekking across town to find the stadium and the fan shop, which they did. It was small, but very modern, and they both were interested in a few odds and ends. "I'm usually not this 'trunky' in buying stuff or in taking pictures. What's different about today?" thought Elder Anderson to himself quietly (It turns out, he usually thinks quietly, unless he's confused or thinking really hard, and then a slow grinding and squeaking noise is heard from somewhere behind his eardrums). Even so, he brushed the quiet thought aside and left the fan shop with a Czech national scarf in his backpack. He was very pleased with it, since it wasn't associated with anyone in particular, so it was wearable at any Czech sporting event or gathering without adaptation.
The elders had it on their plans to go to the building and write some letters. So, they trekked back across the city to the square and into the building. By this time it was about 3:30, and the elders got to work on writing letters, journal entries, and resting up for another week of miracle making. Soon after the other two elders joined them along with a friend/investigator who stopped by to chat.
Elder Anderson was working in the branch office on the home teaching plans and some welfare projects when he heard a funny ringtone in the other room. "That's funny, I think that the other elder's phone is going off, and that ringtone is the one they use for president!" It wasn't quite as cool as the ringtone on his own phone for president or the assistants, but it was nonetheless a ringtone that gets you wondering, "why is the office calling us today?"
Elder Anderson quietly lolled in his chair and he listened to the conversation through the thin office wall. "Hello president! Yeah, we're having a pretty good day...yeah, we've been with Elders Anderson and McGowan all day...uh huh, yeah we haven't heard anything....yep, he should be getting baptized pretty soon, we're really excited...."
Elder Anderson couldn't keep his curiosity down, so he curtailed his lolling activities and walked into the chapel to listen.
"...we're confident he'll be ready for his baptism by then....uh huh....yeah, he just walked in, do you want to talk to him? Yep, here he is!"
Now, Elder McGowan had been laughing the whole time from his chair in the corner. He knew what this call would be about, and Elder Anderson was still in absolute denial. He grabbed the phone and got to work.
"Good afternoon president, how are you doing?"
"Why, I'm doing really well, Elder. I've been trying to call you all day, did something happen to the phone?"
"Oh no, did something happen to the phone?" thought Elder Anderson to himself, this time not so quietly.
"Well, I'm not sure, however I think it was left in the bathroom when we were cleaning..." (Oh, of all the days to leave the phone at home...)
"Ahh, I see. It's kind of hard to reach you that way, you know. How are things in Olomouc?" (Things are going well...? What is this call about?
"Well, Pavel is still going strong, Sister Bundilová prayed for the first time in church yesterday, and PJ says he wants to be a missionary, so I'd say they're going really well."
"Wow, that's marvelous elder! You've been doing some great work out there in Olomouc, but I'd like to talk with you about a bit of a change we're making. We've thought about it, and I'd like to call you to be one of my assistants out here in Prague. An opening has come up due to some missionaries leaving for school early, and so you'll be getting up to speed and indoctrinated now instead of in two weeks over transfers. Are you up to it?"
Elder Anderson started laughing at himself. Elder McGowan had recently been teasing him a lot about going to the office, even during contacts. Elder Anderson appreciated it just fine, and he thought it was funny and, to some extent, even a compliment. Even still, whenever anyone mentioned him going to the office, he'd slap his companion's hand, just to avoid discussion on the topic.
But two weeks before transfers? That was ridiculous to consider! Such a thought had never crossed his mind once! Not to mention packing, saying goodbye, arranging for a threesome in Olomouc, trains, a new learning curve, a soon to be mission president swap, visas, paperwork, legal forms, foreign police, insurance....
"Yeah, that sounds great president! When do we start?"
"You'd need to pack your bags and get here as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to working with you, and we'll be seeing you soon. Bye!" *click*
Elder Anderson started laughing hysterically. It figures that he went souvenir shopping and took several pictures that day, the day of all days to be leaving. They stuck to their schedule as usual that night, but Elder Anderson started texting and calling people as soon as he could to make arrangements to say goodbye or to at least inform them that he was leaving. Then, it was back home, bags packed, and alarm set for 4 AM to grab the bullet train to Prague. On the train (which, sadly, wasn't a bullet train - the guy in front of him kifed the last reservation, so the trip was a little longer than 200 km/h) he read scriptures and thought about all the good that had been done in Olomouc so far. He had been greatly blessed by the Lord and was grateful for all the things he'd seen, between ups and downs, blessings and lack of faith, however the prevailing force of faith was easily seen in Olomouc thanks to the members, those preparing for baptism, and the Lord.
Tuesday at 8:50 AM the train pulled in to Praha Hlavní Nádraži and he was met by Elder Hatch and Elder Doxey. They left for the mission home, arrived in a few minutes, and got to work on training Elder Anderson in all the secrets of office missionary work. Papers to sign, forms to fill out, and policies to establish. They started working on the new transfer assignments, started teaching and finding new investigators immediately, and they even found time to get a transportation pass and then wake up early to go see the sunrise over Charles' Bridge on the Vltava on Saturday morning.
All in all, while a surprising change, Elder Anderson was happy with it. There were many opportunities as well as challenges that were now open to him, and to make things even better, he was grateful for the opportunity to become a more effective leader and to see a slightly bigger perspective on how to be a successful missionary. It does go without saying that working in the office would be a foreign experience for him as a missionary, since his normal proselyting or ministering time was reduced and his administering time (doing not-so-missionary-but-still-really-necessary stuff) was way high. All in all, however, he and his member friends from Prague were very stoked about the change.
A few details/housekeeping items that occurred to Elder Anderson while emailing:
1- P-Day is now on Saturday for me, I don't check email any other day of the week
2- My new address is the mission home. If things have been sent to Olomouc, I'll get it soon enough, but the mission home address in Prague is my personal address now.
3- I live in the most beautiful city on earth, and when we went up to the rooftop view yesterday it was stunning to see medieval bridges, cathedrals, castles, buildings, and right up on the hill Prague Castle fully lit up.
4- My exercise and diet are a lot different now, since I get to walk a lot more than I did in Olomouc (go figure) but we don't get to cook quite as much. Hopefully we'll compromise somehow and I'll see about making some fresh stuff like I used to. Then again, there is a mini-mart right next door with real fresh food and not stuff we have to carefully preserve in a tiny fridge. Fresh green bananas here I come!
Love you all, happy to be here, and I look forward to hearing from you for the next chapter of the Adventures of Elder Anderson in Prague!
Elder Brent Anderson
Monday, June 7, 2010
Consecration Week ( Week 25 in Olomouc, Week 60 in Czech )
"Good morning olomouc! It's 6:30 in the morning! You know what that means: It's time to get up and get moving with your day! The weather forecast for today is looking pretty good...." Elder Anderson smacked the phone and it clattered to the ground and he rolled out of bed. The sun-burn on his neck from a branch weekend hike didn't hurt as much, and he was glad it was Sunday morning. He grabbed Elder Chambers' prized alarm clock, the one he left in Třebíč, a clock famous for being small yet very loud. Elder Anderson knew it would be going off in a few minutes, but he set it on his bed and started to pray. "Heavenly Father, thanks for yet another day of beautiful Czech missionary work. Thanks that PJ came on the hike yesterday, thanks that Pavel is almost ready for baptism, thanks that Elder McGowan is such a stud, thanks that we had a mission wide consecration week, thanks....*yawn*....." Elder Anderson's voice got really tired and he started to doze off....
**BUZZ!! BUZZ!! BUZZ!!**
The Chambers alarm clock/prayer-safety-net went off next to his head. He jumped up, hit the snooze button and kept praying. "I'm grateful that Elder Chambers' alarm clock helps me stay awake when I pray in the morning, I'm grateful for the up and coming morning exercises and yogurt that I love so much here, and I'm especially grateful for another sacrament meeting and the chance to formally review and recommit to the Gospel that I love teaching so much."
He continued his prayer, occasionally dozing off but being saved by the buzzer each time. Finally, after working out their daily plans with the Lord, they got to work on actually making it happen. Elder Anderson had seen some amazing miracles that week already due to consecration, and not so much from Sacrifice. Consecration is willingly and cheerfully setting something apart completely and entirely to the Lord, be it a building, 2 years of time, a holy temple, or yourself, and Olomouc had seen some neat miracles thanks to that. The other missionaries in Olomouc had a new baptismal date slated for the 18th with Pavel, Pavel was doing really well and had just a few commandments to go before having a green-light for baptism, and PJ had shared some impressions and ideas with them the night before that were very exciting.
The Monday before the Elders had prayed and planned on taking a certain divinely inspired route through the town, into the park, and back into the center before going home for the night. Following zone conference counsel, they strived to have the spirit with them 100%, to be enveloped in the spirit, and to strive to be completely consecrated to the Lord. Well, it worked! The night before they had seen very clearly a certain route they needed to follow and signs they would see to be sure it was being followed, including talking to a man on a rock, meeting a man and teaching him as they walked up the stairs, and finally being guided through the remainder of the night talking to certain individuals. They averaged about every other contact being significant, and were very grateful for the people they spoke to. One of them was a man training to be a Catholic priest, and the two Elders were very grateful for the opportunity to teach and bear testimony of the Restoration. His concerns of priesthood authority and means of worship evaporated through simply, powerful statements of testimony and restored truth, and in the end had little more to say.
Other days during the week were similar in nature, spent finding and teaching and testifying to many many people, but the Elders didn't lose focus of the most important thing: Inviting others to come unto Christ, to accept the restored gospel, and to enter into baptism. They spread their fire in Brno on exchanges for a day when Elder McGowan interviewed a man for baptism and Elder Anderson with the local district leader almost gave out a baptismal date to a brand new investigator (That almost will be rectified soon, since he wondered about committing to baptism before reading the book of mormon)! Earlier in the day they had met with an ex-cop who really loved weapons of every kind (Including laser-sight pepper spray, blowguns, crossbows, and battle-axes), and enjoyed sharing with him how faith in God brings us hope in an otherwise fallen world.
The biggest highlight of the week were probably the impressions of PJ. Saturday night, he shared with the Elders his testimony of the Gospel in the park, right after he had shown them his drum set at a local born-again christian chapel (The Elders started teaching him right there in the Chapel/stage but, at the insistence of the Spirit, they left for said park; even still, the elders thought it was pretty groovy that they had testified and taught a few restored truths about the plan of salvation right there from a radically protestant podium complete with electric guitar, bongos, and a combo-set). In the park, PJ proclaimed, "I'm really happy to be learning these things, but I don't know what I want to do in the future. I have a restaurant, and that's one of my goals. I'm in a band, and our CD will be coming out soon. I was wondering if you know any good schools in the US I could study at?" The missionaries grinned with joy and told him of a place in the heart of a very happy valley where the students are christian and the education is excellent. When they asked him what he thought, he said "why sure!" On their way home, PJ had something on his mind. "Hey, Elders? What I really want to do, you know, is...Well, I'd like to teach the gospel like you guys. Do you think that is possible?"
Needless to say, the Elders were well pleased and assured him that his desire was absolutely fantastic. They drove home that night with the thought of a Mongolian return missionary/BYU graduate/stake president on their minds and were pretty stoked the rest of the week (Except for that one text at 3 AM on sunday: PJ couldn't come to church because his Chinese restaurant in Prague had been invaded by skin-heads and he had to go open up a can of 300 lb. Mongolian-judo, but he assured the disappointed Elders that the week after was going to be better; the elders kicked themselves for not thinking of that one during their prayers and decided they'd pray for Divine Providence to protect PJ's restaurant from skin-heads next week).
After reviewing the weeks events and putting on his freshly ironed shirt, his nifty Czech polyester tie, and shiny-polished shoes, Elder Anderson decided that, out of everything he'd done in his life, Missionary Work was the best of them all - for real. All the other stuff was good, but missionary work easily trumped the rest. And he was happy.
Starší Brent Anderson
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